SDUT: Looking forward: 18 key San Diego issues in ’18

December 31 – San Diego Union Tribune – John Wilkens reports– Fifty years from now, what will San Diegans remember about the new year that dawns Monday?

A number of issues could bring significant change to the way the region looks, how it’s governed, how it behaves.

Here are 18 things worth watching in ‘18.

‘Community choice’ energy

The issue: San Diego is considering whether to form a government-run alternative to San Diego Gas & Electric as a way to reach its goal of using all renewable energy by 2035. Several North County cities are also exploring the option.

Why it matters: Under what’s known as Community Choice Aggregation, elected officials control the buying and selling of energy for their residents. A recent feasibility study said rates could go down in San Diego while providing up to 50 percent renewable energy by 2023 and 80 percent by 2027.

What to watch: The California Public Utilities Commission plans to overhaul the “exit fee” community choice programs have to pay utility companies when customers leave. Will the fee make the program financially unworkable?

Key players: The Climate Action Campaign, which supports community choice; SDG&E, which opposes it and has proposed its own green-energy plan; Mayor Kevin Faulconer, whose recommendation will go to the City Council.

Homelessness

The issue: San Diego County has the fourth-largest homeless population in the nation — 9,160, according to a recent federal report. More than 60 percent are unsheltered, well above the nationwide figure of 35 percent.

Why it matters: In 2017, an outbreak of hepatitis A killed 20 people and sickened another 570, hitting the homeless particularly hard.

What to watch: Two dormitory-style tents went up recently and a third is set to open this week that will collectively house about 700 people. How many get moved into permanent housing, and for how long?

Traffic

The issue: San Diego is considering whether to form a government-run alternative to San Diego Gas & Electric as a way to reach its goal of using all renewable energy by 2035. Several North County cities are also exploring the option.

Why it matters: Under what’s known as Community Choice Aggregation, elected officials control the buying and selling of energy for their residents. A recent feasibility study said rates could go down in San Diego while providing up to 50 percent renewable energy by 2023 and 80 percent by 2027.

What to watch: The California Public Utilities Commission plans to overhaul the “exit fee” community choice programs have to pay utility companies when customers leave. Will the fee make the program financially unworkable?

Key players: The Climate Action Campaign, which supports community choice; SDG&E, which opposes it and has proposed its own green-energy plan; Mayor Kevin Faulconer, whose recommendation will go to the City Council.

The ‘dreamers’

The issue: What to do about the nearly 800,000 unauthorized immigrants brought to the U.S. as minors and granted legal protection under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program.

Why it matters: Protections are due to expire in March unless the government acts, which would subject the so-called “dreamers” — 40,000 of them in the San Diego region — to deportation.

What to watch: Right before Christmas, the White House signaled a willingness to help the dreamers — but at what price in terms of the president’s other immigration and border-security priorities?